Members of the Ossewabrandwag on parade during WWII.

The then political opposition collaborated with

the Germans. OB Photo Collection/Records, Archives and Museum Division, North-West University

A return to the archives sheds light on

German spies in South Africa during
WWII
Evert Kleynhans, Stellenbosch University
May 6, 2021 3.26pm SAST

The story of the intelligence war in South Africa during the Second
World War is one of suspense, drama and dogged persistence. South
Africa officially joined the war on 6 September 1939 by siding with
Britain and the Allies and declaring war on Nazi Germany.
:
 South African historians have largely overlooked the intelligence war,
partly because of the apparent paucity of reference sources on it. This
lack of attention prompted me to investigate the matter further. The
result was my book Hitler’s Spies: Secret Agents and the Intelligence War in
South Africa.

The book offers a new perspective on this lesser known episode of

South African history.

A#er six years of research at various archival depots in South Africa

and the United Kingdom, I was able to provide a fresh account of the
German intelligence networks that operated in wartime South Africa.
My book also details the hunt in post-war Europe for witnesses to help
the South African government bring charges of high treason against
those who aided the German war effort.

My research shows how, during the war (1939 to 1945), the German
government secretly reached out to the political opposition in South
Africa, the Ossewabrandwag (oxwagon sentinels). This group was
founded as an Afrikaner cultural organisation in Bloemfontein in
1939. During the war, the movement became decidedly anti-imperial
and increasingly militaristic. The government regarded it as the
proverbial “enemy within”.

The Germans were especially interested in naval and political

intelligence. Accurate naval intelligence on ships from Europe and the
Far East rounding the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa’s
southernmost point, would allow German submarines to attack them.

Political intelligence could further help the Germans to spread

sedition within the then Union of South Africa. At the time, this was a
dominion – a self-governing entity within the British Empire with
English and Afrikaner populations. German agents were dispatched
across the globe during the war to collect military and political
intelligence. These agents undermined the overall Allied war effort to
varying degrees of success.
:
 Hitler’s spies in South Africa

A network of German agents was established in South Africa with the

help of the Ossewabrandwag. These agents used a variety of channels
to send coded messages to German diplomats in neighbouring
Mozambique for onward transmission to Berlin. Due to the neutrality
of Portugal during the war, Mozambique, then a Portuguese colony,
was a safe haven for German agents and diplomats in southern Africa.

By mid-1942 a radio transmitter was built by the Felix Organisation

with the help of the Ossewabrandwag and located near Vryburg, a
large farming town in what is now South Africa’s North West province.
The Felix Organisation was headed by the agent Lothar Sittig and was
the premier German intelligence organisation in wartime South
Africa. This radio transmitter eventually allowed for direct, two-way
radio contact between agents and Berlin.

But the cooperation between the Ossewabrandwag and the German

agents did not go unnoticed.
:
 Through the combined efforts of the South African authorities, all
illicit wireless communications between South Africa, Mozambique
and Germany were intercepted and decoded.

The British and South African authorities were thus aware of the full
extent of contact and cooperation that existed between key members
of the Ossewabrandwag and the German agents operational in South
Africa. They planned several unsuccessful raids on the illicit radio
transmitter near Vryburg. These largely failed due to the dubious
loyalties of some of the members involved.

This is evidenced by the existence of several British Security Service

(MI5) case files at the National Archives of the United Kingdom. These
are filled to the brim with documentary evidence detailing every
minute aspect of this episode in South African history.
:
 Consequences

Following the war, the South African authorities were anxious to

charge known war criminals, traitors and collaborators. Missions
headed by the state prosecutors Rudolph Rein and Lawrence Barrett
were established to interview key suspects and collect evidence with
the view of bringing criminal charges against known South African
traitors and collaborators.

The Barrett Mission was particularly interested in the charismatic

leader of the Ossewabrandwag, Hans van Rensburg. He, along with a
trusted inner circle, acted as the nodal point for German agents
operating in wartime South Africa. A case of high treason was built
against Van Rensburg.

The case was terminated following the 1948 electoral victory of the
National Party, which would go on to formalise apartheid. Van
Rensburg disappeared from the political scene in South Africa soon
therea#er. The Ossewabrandwag movement was dissolved in 1952.

It seems the post-war drive towards greater Afrikaner unity proved

more important than charging fellow Afrikaners with high treason,
despite the overwhelming evidence against them.

A#er 1948 there was a determined move towards reconciliation within

the Afrikaner community. This culminated in the formal
establishment of the Republic of South Africa in 1961.

With the passage of time these wartime events all but vanished from
the South African collective memory. Gatekeeper mentality at
archives, missing documents and the removal of key evidence from
public circulation combined to stymie further research on this topic.
The high treason docket against Van Rensburg, for instance, was
deposited at the National Archive in Pretoria in 1948. It was placed
under embargo for an undisclosed period. This document has since
gone “missing”.

My book proves, however, that the missing narrative on the

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 intelligence war in South Africa can be reconstructed.

Comment on this article

Evert Kleynhans
Senior Lecturer in Military History, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch
University

Evert Kleynhans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding
from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has
disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Stellenbosch University provides funding as a partner of The Conversation

AFRICA.

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